Category: theatre

Harold Pinter’s theater-world friends discuss the man many consider to be England’s greatest living playwright. The 40th anniversary production of his play “The Caretaker” is about to open in the West End, and Pinter has four new plays under his belt in the last decade. – The Telegraph (UK)

The storied Yale theatre school is looking for a new dean. The days when the president of the university can call up his candidate and just offer him the job, but the speculation is still fun. – Hartford Courant

“London’s West End, after a recent extraordinary period of revitalisation, has gone to the dogs. That’s the worry voiced by many London critics in the last couple of months.” And it’s not just star casting that’s to blame. – The Independent (UK)

It ran for three years and 1,500 performances. But when it closes in January the musical “Jekyll and Hyde” will still be $1.5 million in the red. The show was despised by critics but gained something of a cult following. – New York Times

Shows closing, new shows jockeying for theatres … – New York Post

“Patrick Marber’s lean, darkly funny writing has led some to dub him the heir to Pinter. Marber scorns the comparison – “Most younger writers are influenced by Pinter; I’m as much influenced by Stoppard and Oscar Wilde.” – The Guardian

“In an era when people who care bemoan the state of musical theater and wonder where future shows will come from, Hal Prince and his grown children are committing their prominence, connections and expertise to support and call attention to a new generation of composers.” – New York Times

The family of the late acting teacher Lee Strasberg, founder of “the method” and cofounder of the legendary Group Theatre, plans to commemorate the centennial of his birth this year by producing a season of new plays by emerging playwrights in Los Angeles. – Times of India (Reuters)

Isabelle Adjani’s return to the stage in “Lady of the Camellias,” after a 17-year absence, has transfixed Paris’s theater audiences this fall. More than 50,000 tickets have been sold for just 100 performances and the press has gushed over her return. But little has been said of her actual performance. “Is she any good on stage? To some extent, that’s beside the point. Basking in her stage aura is all that a good many people in France seem to want to do. This is not to single out French theatre-goers. The same is true in the West End and on Broadway. When a big star hits the boards, no one cares what the critics think.” – The Guardian

The number of minority actors in theater productions on Broadway is dwindling – and most of those working are either in choruses or race-specific parts, rarely getting a chance at major roles. “A report by Actors’ Equity shows a sharp dip in the number of minorities on stage. In musical productions, nonwhite casting was 19.3 percent during the 1999 season, down from 31.2 percent the year before. In nonmusical productions, the numbers for 1999 – the last time such a study was conducted – were even more bleak, with only 7.2 percent of casts drawn from ethnic minorities, down from 8.5 percent in 1998.” – Seattle Times (New York Daily News)